Bite, p.61
Bite, page 61
We meet back in the parking lot where David is keeping watch near his Hummer. One of the car doors opens and Harry pops out to help my friends climb into the huge SUV. I look around fretfully as I ask, “What are you doing here? Somebody might see you.”
He smirks as he replies, “Sweetheart, no one is going to recognize me here.”
Diane, who’s trying to keep it together, asks, “Are we still in danger? I mean with all of you together no one is going to attach us right?”
I scan the area more carefully as I reply, “I’m not sure. Sam do you sense anything?”
“Nothing,” he flatly responds while also looking around.
Joseph scrunches up his face as he whispers, “This doesn’t feel right. Something is definitely wrong about this.”
“I agree,” Evan adds. “One of them would have shown their face by now.”
While also nodding Sam tensely says, “It was too easy to get them. We should have encountered something like the bonfire incident by now.”
I knew getting too excited that we reached my friends in time was too good to be true. Ursela wants to announce us to the world so one of her vampire slaves should have definitely met us by now. What the hell is going on? Could it be they were waiting for us to all be together before making their move? This just doesn’t make any sense.
David huffs as he asks, “Kiddo, are you sure there was another vampire within your vicinity where ever the hell you were? I mean, you’re still new at this so you could have been wrong.”
“I know what I felt and Joseph felt it too,” I hiss at him. “I knew they were near us and then we felt them fade away. I don’t know why they didn’t approach us but my gut instinct told me to trust Joseph and get over here fast.”
“And now we’re here and nothing. This is just too weird,” Evan says.
I roll my eyes as I say, “Maybe we got here just in time and when they saw all of us, they backed off.”
“So can I go back and finish my game? I want to keep my winning streak going before the coach has my head on a platter,” Steve says.
I give him a hard stare and reply, “You can forget about the rest of the game Steve. If we let you go back in there, something else will have your head instead.”
He lets out a disappointed sigh but nods since he knows we’re only doing this to keep him safe. Joseph is still feeling uneasy and my phone begins to vibrate. I look at the caller id and groan as I say, “My mom sure has bad timing.” I hit the button to answer and I force my voice to be somewhat cheerful as I say, “Hey Mom. Can I call you back later? I’m kind of in the middle of something right now.”
“No I think you and I should talk now.”
The moment I hear the Russian accent, my body freezes. My hand that’s holding the phone begins to shake as I slowly ask, “Carla?”
A wicked laugh echoes into my ear as she replies, “Yes Gina it’s me. Did you miss me?”
I fight to keep the growl building in my throat from coming out as I ask, “Where is my mother?”
“She’s here. Your mother is very pretty by the way. I see where you get your looks from.”
She laughs again but my body grows colder. She’s with Sara and I start to imagine the worst. Did she drink from her? Is my mother even still alive? The whole world seems to be spinning as I try to keep it together while I spat into the phone, “I swear to God Carla if you even touch her, you will regret it!”
She laughs again and my anger rises. Sam is right next to me so he can hear everything she is saying. “Oh Gina, I’m not going to hurt Sara. I’m not a monster.”
“Fuck you Carla! I want to speak to her now!”
Carla lets out a playful growl as she says, “Sara is unavailable at the moment but I promise you she is unharmed.”
“I don’t believe you,” I yell while I feel the tears building up. “I want to be assured that she is alive.”
“Well then come and see for yourself,” she leers and the connection goes dead.
I’m still holding the phone to my ear until Sam slowly takes it out of my hand. Harry is snarling as he asks, “Why are we still standing here?”
“Exactly. Let’s go and kick some ass,” Evan adds as his fangs begin to grow out.
I look at the others’ faces and I see that they are ready but they’re standing by waiting to hear what I want to do. I look at my human friends and their faces are unreadable. They seem unfazed by Evan’s ferocious expression and I guess the incident on the beach numbed them to us since they see we’re not going to hurt them. I jump to each of their faces individually and when I land on Steve’s, he just says, “Go kick ass Gina.”
David smirks as he adds, “I couldn’t have said it better myself kiddo. Let’s go get your mom.”
They start to get into the Hummer and I almost begin to protest when I see my friends climb in but Sam pulls me in the direction of my bike. Harry takes off on foot but I know he won’t charge towards the house without us. We speed our way through the streets until we park a few blocks away. I quickly jump off the bike and run to the Hummer where I tell my human friends one thing. “I want you guys to stay in the car.”
Wide-eyed Mark responds, “We can help you Gina.”
“No! I want you to stay here please. I need you all to stay safe so stay in the fucking car!”
I shut the door before they can argue any further and the rest of us head for the back of the house. We find Harry up in a tree watching the house like a hawk. He looks anxious as his eyes remain fixated and his body language lets me know he would charge inside in a heartbeat. I climb up next to him and whisper, “Dad, how does it look?”
Trying to keep his voice stable he replies, “Carla is in there with another vampire and they have Sara tied up to a chair. She seems okay but it is hard to really tell. We need to get inside now Gina.”
Shit my father is furious although I’m just as angry. But Harry charging in to rescue Sara would be a disaster. She must already be confused with Carla and her friend in there and her seeing Harry will only make things worse. I put a gentle hand on my father’s shoulder as I murmur, “Pop, you know you can’t go in there with us. We’ll go in and take care of it.” He looks at me stunned as I continue, “Pop, Mom doesn’t know what we are and seeing you is going to be a major shock. You’re going to have to wait out here.”
“That is my wife! I’m not going to just hang back and do nothing, so forget it! Now let’s go.”
He jumps down from the tree and leaving us no choice, we proceed to follow him. We both run ahead and I’m ready to bust through the window and tear Carla a new one while Harry can take care of the vampire with her. But when I get to the window, I stop dead in my tracks. “Oh no,” I whisper as Carla comes into view with a malicious smile on her face.
“What’s wrong,” Charlie asks.
“I can’t go in. She must have influenced Sara to remove the invitation. I can’t go in the house!”
Carla snickers as the other vampire comes into view. It is a caramel skinned female with dark brown hair that’s cut into a face length bob. Her green eyes stare at us with pure hatred as her left hand strokes the top of Sara’s head. I feel my rage coming on as Carla says, “I’m so glad you came Gina.”
Ignoring her I look directly at Sara and I scream, “Mom you have to invite us in!”
I look at her face, which is frozen in shock. I take a glimpse to my right to see Harry standing next to me. This is the moment that I feared as Sara mumbles, “Harry? Harry is that really you? It can’t be. You’re dead.”
I know my mom is freaking out right now but I need her to focus so I scream, “Mom! Look at me! I need you to invite us in now!”
The brunette vampire cackles as she says, “She does and I’ll bleed her dry.”
“Do it and you’ll die,” Harry roars.
Sara is in disbelief and I see her mind scrambling to figure out how Harry is standing next to me and how long have I been keeping this secret from her. I suddenly feel a presence somewhere but I am too engrossed on Sara to worry about it. I just hope whatever it is one of the others will take care of it. I look at Joseph and say, “You’ll be ready to grab her?”
“Oh yeah. I’ll get her no problem,” he responds as he gets into his full defensive mode with his fangs growing out of his gums.
I turn to look back at Sara and in a pleading tone I scream, “Mom, please invite us in!”
Suddenly Tiffany bursts through the front door and yells at the top of her lungs, “Would you all like to come in?”
A little pissed that she didn’t stay in the Hummer, I’m grateful she ignored me and I want to kiss Tiffany. I quickly recall a time when she was here at the house and she made a comment about how she was here so much that she thought she was becoming a pest. I mean she even started to leave some of her clothes in my closet. But the key thing I remember was when Sara had hugged her as she said, “Oh Tiffany you know this is your home. You’re part of this family too.”
Without delay we all rush inside to Carla’s dismay and Joseph grabs Sara and after quickly untying her, pushes her against the wall while crouching down in front of her. Sam and Evan go to distract the other vampire while I go for Carla. I growl while I say, “You made the biggest mistake of your existence.”
She smiles as she says, “But you have it all wrong Gina. I’m not here to fight with you. I’m only here to deliver a message.”
I wasn’t expecting to hear that but I’m not ready to let down my guard either. I pause as I respond with a growl, “What is the message?”
She tosses her hair over her shoulder as she answers, “Your queen is finally ready to meet you and is requesting to speak with you. She would like you to come right away. Please look in my mind so you can see the location of the meeting. Do you see it?” I peek in her head and once I see where Ursela wants to meet, I nod. “Good, so we shall see you later. Come JoJo, we will leave now.”
The brunette vampire answers to the name and she still stares at Sam and Evan who are waiting to strike. My friends are huddled together with Charlie’s shield around them with their eyes never leaving Carla. JoJo slowly heads for the window and quietly climbs out. I watch Carla slowly start to walk towards the window as well but she stops and instantly my world changes.
Before she follows JoJo out the window, her eyes narrows into tiny slits as she says, “But before I go, please let me assure you there are no hard feelings about you stabbing me that night.”
I go to respond but Carla is too quick and she maneuvers around Joseph and knocks him out of the way where he crashes into the opposite wall and lands on the floor with a hard thud. And in a quick motion she slashes Sara’s throat and a huge gush of blood pours out of her neck. And just as fast, she is gone.
Harry is at my mother’s side in an instant. David and Evan fly out the window after Carla and JoJo but I know they will be back soon. Carla is very fast and she knows how to evade any pursuer. Catching her now is hopeless.
I go to Sara’s side and eye in horror at her injury. She is losing a lot of blood (which sorry to say smells absolutely divine) and I’m not sure what to do. I look up at Sam whose eyes are fixed on Sara’s throat. The warmth of the house is enhancing the scent so I turn towards my friends and scream, “I need you to open all the windows quickly and the front door! We need to let the cool air in so the blood doesn’t smell as strong!”
They nod as they scramble to open the windows. Tiffany opens the front door and asks, “Is Sara gonna be okay?”
Charlie is kneeling beside her and after examining her wound he gravely replies, “I don’t think so. Carla went for the jugular, which is every vampire’s favorite spot. I’m sorry to say but I don’t think she can survive this.”
I stare at him with wide eyes as I spat, “There’s got to be something we can do. Anything! I will not let her die!” I feel Sam moving closer so I stand up to face him as I say, “Baby look at me.” He remains engrossed on Sara for a moment longer before slowly turning his gaze on me. “You can’t have her blood. Please Sam, she’s my mother.” Joseph is also struggling to control his thirst as he stares at her and we have to do something quickly before they both try to go for her blood. I grab Charlie’s arm as I implore, “What if we change her? That should heal her enough if we change her right?”
He is about to answer when Sara tries to speak. Her voice is hoarse as she says, “Mija.”
“Mom I’m here,” I respond as I hover over her while closing off my nose so I don’t inhale her scent. “Save your strength Mom. Don’t talk.”
Charlie sighs as he says, “It might work but we don’t have much time. She’s dying Gina so if you want me to do it, tell me now.”
There is no doubt in my mind as I nod my head. Whatever we can do to save her I want it done. But a firm voice breaks the silence, as we hear a simple, “No
We all look at Harry in shock as I whisper, “What?”
He keeps his eyes on Sara as he replies, “I will not doom my wife to this life. It was hard enough to accept your decision to be a vampire but I will be damned if I’m going to allow it for her. I would rather her die than for her to be like us.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I slowly begin to rise to my feet and I shake my head as I scream, “Pop you can’t do this!”
“She is my wife so it’s my call. When Sam changed you that was his decision because he is your husband. You have no authority on this Gina.”
“Fuck authority! That is my mother!” I feel Sam grab me as I try to go for Harry so I can beat some sense into him. I refuse to believe he’s going to sit there and let Sara bleed to death. This man loves my mother more than anything in the world. Why doesn’t he fight to save her? I continue to struggle out of Sam’s arms determine to shake the venom out of Harry if he doesn’t do something. David and Evan return and picking up the mood, they see Sam struggling to hold me back. Evan rushes over to help as I roar, “Don’t you dare let her die!”
“I need to know what you want me to do now! Sara is fading fast,” Charlie says while leaning over her. His fangs are bared and ready to bite as he firmly adds, “I need a decision now!”
Ignoring my pleas, Harry kisses her on the forehead and softly says, “I never stopped loving you. Be at peace Sara and know I will forever take care of our baby.” He then gives me a sorrowful glance and finally to Charlie he whispers, “Let her go. Do what you can for her and make it quick.”
Charlie nods and while looking at me he mentally says I’m very sorry Gina. Sam get her outside now. She doesn’t need to see this.
Not understanding, I feel Sam and Evan trying to lure me out the door but I lock my body in place. “What is he going to do,” I ask but before he could answer, Tiffany lets out a wail. I turn my attention back to Charlie who was down on my mother’s neck. Looking in his mind, I see what he is doing and I scream out, “No!”
But he delivers the final bite and after her body shakes and coughs up a little more blood, she lies perfectly still and Sara Williams is gone.
A Deal with the Devil
(Sam)
Everyone in the room is silent as we sadly stare at Sara’s body. Harry remains next to her, as Tiffany’s sobs grow louder. Charlie goes over to comfort her as Gina’s friends remain in shock. I look at my brother and I try to see the thoughts running through his head. I know that was hard for him since he hasn’t killed anyone since our early life as vampires. That took a lot out of him emotionally but Charlie knew it was the only way to give Sara a peaceful death so she wouldn’t be in any more pain. I silently say goodbye to the woman who filled in the role of a mother since I last saw my real mother over a hundred and forty years ago.
I continue to hold Gina while waiting for her reaction. Once Sara died, Gina became deathly quiet and I begin to worry on what she is going to do. I feel her rapidly take deep breaths as she continues to stare at her mother’s lifeless body. I am about to ask if she is alright when her reaction begins to happen.
At first it is something small like a lamp that begins to rise up slowly from an end table. But then other things also start to ascend and something tells me this is going to be really bad. The humans gasp and they start to move around but I firmly say, “Don’t move. Stay right where you are.”
They remain still just as all the furniture is now floating in the room. I glance at Gina who is standing in the same spot with a dead expression on her face and after a few moments, she lets out an ear splitting scream and all the furniture crashes down on the floor. Me, along with the other vampires, cringe in pain from her scream which thankfully doesn’t last long but our heads pound from the pain as Gina lets out her emotions for her mother.
Once she stops, Steve steps around the broken pieces of a lamp as he asks, “What the hell just happened?”
“When Gina screams, it hurts us,” Joseph answers while still a little dazed and rubs his temples.
In an angry tone David adds, “But her mind can control that. If she wants us to hurt then her mind will make her screams cause us pain. Any reason for that kiddo?”
I scowl at him and I wish he could be a little more sensitive since she just lost her mother about five minutes ago. Gina pays no attention to his scolding tone and she shrugs her shoulders. “Sorry,” she mutters. “I didn’t control it. I didn’t mean to cause you guys any discomfort.”
“It’s okay love. None of us are that worked up over it,” I respond while rolling my eyes at David who responds by flipping me off. I focus on my wife and I walk over to take her in my arms for a hug.” Are you alright,” I ask.
